Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-11-17
HOW TO WARM HOUSES.
DIRECT RADIATION VERSUS STOVES,
FURNACES AND PIPES.

The Artificial Climate IN our houses
Destructive Effect Upon Health-Radia
ton from Open Fires-Hot Iron Sur
faces-The Only Remedy.
We make an artificial climate in on
houses We live indoors in an atmosphere
heated by stoves, furnaces or steam pipes, Il
20 or so dogs; and we pass from our parlol
or hall into the open air. At step, literally
in breath, the temperature Of the air has
for US, dropped so to 20 degs. We may pu
On an extra coat or shawl, and shield the out
side of the body and chest, but we canno
shield delicate Innings and membranes of tht
air passages, the bronchial tubes and lans
cells Naked, they receive the full force o.
the change-the last breath at 20 dogs. tht
next at freezing or zero-and all unprepared
We have been sitting, perhaps for hours, In {
tropical atmosphere; nay, worse, in an at
mosphere deprived by hot iron furnaces of it!
ozone and natural refreshing and bracing
qualities. Our lungs are all relaxed, de
bilitated, unstrung; and in this condition the
cold air strikes them perhaps 80 degs. below
what they are graduated to and prepared
for. Is it strange that pneumonia and bron-
chitis arc at hands
II VIC wero il the West Ipdies, or even in
Florida, and wish to come north in winter,
we try TO make the change gradual. But in
our houses we keep up tropical climate, or
worse, for the air is not fresh, and we step
into an air as much colder as 40 degs of Iati-
tli6o will make it. It is in effect going from
Cube TO 1celand-or at least to New York
at a step, and we make the journey perhaps
| q dozen times day. And often, while we
are still shut up in our domiciliary Cuban
! climate, Iceland comes down upon us from
an open window to replace air that has had
its natural refreshing qualities quite cooked
out of it by hot stoves, furnaces OF steam
pipes. And all these sudden changes and
shocks of cold come upon us while the whole
system has its vitality and powers of resist
ance gagged down to the low necessities of
! tropical climate
Tne effect upon health is destructive. Pneu-
nonia has increased nearly threefold in New
! York, in proportion to population. within
the last fifty years. Bronchitis has increased
even more rapidly, and now causes 800
! deaths in that city every year, being an IL
crease of nearly fivefold to the population in
fifty years. What is the cause? We have a
sufficient and very obvious cause in the fact
that in our methods of heating our houses we
/
years ago there were few furnaces or close
stoves, and no steam pipes for warming;
houses were warmed by open fires. The
difference is radical and of great importance
1t may be briefly explained thus: Radiant
heat from the sun or from an open fire passes
through the air $50 far as it is pure air. with
out warming it-that is to say, without being
obstructed or retained by it Ciust as light
does, and only warns the pavement, floors
walls or other Opaque body on which it falls
Hence on sunny day the pavement viii be
100 dogs, while the air above it is only so
degs. The air that touches the iron bars or
surface Of the fire in an open CRATE goes to
feed the fire, and then is drawn up the CHM
ney. Only pure radiant heat is thrown into
the room, not hot air, and it does not heat
the air at all directly, but warns our bodies,
walls, furniture, etc, and the air is heated
from them. When stove, furnace, steam
pipes and not water pipes are used the air is
heated directly and in turn warns the OBJ
Jects with which it comes in contact, the pro-
cess being exactly the reverse of the other
BY radiation from open fires the air is tine
coolest thing III the room; by the air heating
method it is the hottest By open fires the
lungs get less heat than any other part of us.
ana 50 are braced and strengthened: by the
hot air process they get more heat than any
other part, because the hottest air rises uI,-
permOst about the head, and so IS inhaled,
making the lungs tender and sensitive to Geld
on our going out
We want TO warm our bodies, not the cir
Cool air is denSer, contains more oxygen and
warns the blood more than hot air, besides
refreshing and strengthening the lungs and
bracing them against injury on going out.
We want air with the normal amount Of
ozone. We get it all destroyed by the hot
iron surfaces.
The only remedy for al these misehievous
conditions and effects is entirely to abandon
the plan of applying the heat to the air-of
making the air the carrier OF the heat Heat
wants no carrier any more than light Put
your fire in proper position: take away the
iron and brick castings that incIose it and OBJ
struct its natural movements, and, Quicker
than you can think, the heat will be flashed
all over your room; darting out in straight
lines IN every direction from the surface of
the fire-down, up and horizontally; and this
without expense for pipes and hot air ducts.
Ii one CRATE is not enough put another on the
opposite side or the room. Goals are cheaper
than.coifins
An almost perfect arrangement for warm
ing room would be an open fire, ard the en-
tire surface of the walls and ceiling formed
OF rejecting material. The least possible |
fire would warm US, because the heat would |
be kept alive, active, radiant; being reflected !
from side to side. and I'D to cell
ing and back as quick as lightning flashes; |
and 50, impinging on the body on all sides |
would give it a lively. glowing warmth, |
while the air might be at almost any lower |
1t would be ike having fire |
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